Outflow of Personnel from Correctional Institutions for Young Offenders on Course

Press release | 29-06-2011

The measures taken by State Secretary Teeven for Security and Justice to reduce the vacancy rate in Dutch correctional institutions for young offenders are paying off. At the end of May 2011, 33% of the personnel working in state institutions that had been closed down had already been phased out. In addition, a different designated use has by now been found for several of the locations. This is what the State Secretary wrote in a letter to the Lower House of Parliament.

In November 2010, the State Secretary notified the Lower House of Parliament of the excess in capacity in the correctional institutions for young offenders. He announced that the capacity would be reduced to 800 operational jobs and 150 reserve jobs. This meant that there would no longer be jobs for nearly 1,200 employees and that there would no longer be any place for them in the correctional institutions for young offenders in the short to medium term.

By now, 253 out of the approximately 770 employees of the state locations that have been closed down have left the correctional institutions for young offenders and found jobs elsewhere. The expectation is that this number will rise to more than 370 employees by 1 September, which amounts to nearly 50% of the total number of state employees. These figures indicate that the mobility approach is going according to plan. Efforts are also being made for the other employees to assist them in finding other work.

Finding alternative designated uses for the locations that have been closed down has also been successful. On 1 January of this year, the Rekken location in Rentray was converted into a care institution financed by money provided under the Exceptional Medical Expenses Act; on 1 July, a cooperation agreement for five years was entered into with Lijn 5 (a youth care institution for moderately mentally disabled young people) for Doggerij in Den Helder; and the Boards of Den Hey-Acker in Breda and the Penal Institution in Vught made cooperation agreements about the De Leij location. In respect of locations for which no alternative designated uses have been found yet, the State Secretary will continue to examine whether opportunities arise to use these locations for other purposes.